Living Grief Practitioner Certification 

                  60 Hour Practitioner Level Training

A 60-Hour Practitioner Level Certification

Embodied, Relational, and Non-Teleological Grief Accompaniment

40 Hours In-Person + 20 Hours Online

Living Grief™ is a 60-hour hybrid practitioner certification rooted in Living Grief Theory — a multidimensional, paradox-centered framework that understands grief not as a problem to resolve, but as a living field to inhabit.

This training moves beyond stage-based and outcome-oriented models of mourning to explore grief as embodied, relational, ecological, ancestral, existential, and awareness-based experience. Participants learn to accompany grief without imposing timelines, closure narratives, or pathologizing assumptions.

At the center of the program are the Five Currents of Living Grief Theory:

Body
somatic grief and embodied knowing

Heart
attachment, multiplicity, and relational complexity

Mind
meaning, predictive disruption, and existential inquiry

Spirit
communal, ancestral, and ecological grief

Soul
awareness and witnessing presence

Beneath all five currents runs the undercurrent of impermanence — the recognition that grief discloses the fragile, relational, and changing nature of human life itself.

This certification integrates somatic phenomenology, grief studies, contemplative traditions, affect theory, African and Indigenous relational ontologies, parts-based awareness, and trauma-aware practice into an accessible framework for real-world accompaniment.

Participants are trained to recognize the difference between grief that is alive and moving versus grief that has contracted under shame, isolation, or pressure toward premature resolution. Rather than asking, “How do we fix grief?” Living Grief™ asks a different question:

How is grief living in this person now?

Through immersive retreat experiences, guided embodiment practices, relational inquiry, group process, ritual, ecological reflection, and online integration modules, participants develop the capacity to accompany grief with steadiness, depth, ethical presence, and cross-cultural sensitivity.

  FRAMEWORK

In-Person Retreat: 40 hours (5 days @ ~8 hours/day) & 20 hours online

 

FRAMEWORK OF LIVING GRIEF™

These are not stages or steps, but interwoven pathways through which grief moves and reveals itself. Participants may enter from any point, and multiple pathways are often active simultaneously.

The Field of Grief — Spacious Presence

Cultivating the capacity to remain present with grief without collapsing into it, fixing it, or bypassing it. Rooted in contemplative and nondual traditions, this pathway explores witnessing awareness, paradox, impermanence, and the living nature of grief itself.

The Ground of Grief — Somatic Literacy

Learning to recognize grief as embodied intelligence through Felt Sense Dynamics™, nervous system awareness, and the body’s nonverbal language of loss. Explores Bodiedism™, somatic phenomenology, and the body as the primary site through which grief is first known.

The Horizon of Grief — Meaning, Memory & Mind

Exploring how grief reshapes identity, memory, worldview, and the mind’s orientation toward reality itself. This pathway examines the cognitive, existential, and cultural dimensions of grief, including shattered assumptions, inherited beliefs about mourning, predictive disruption, and socially constructed timelines around loss. Participants learn to recognize grief not as mental failure, but as the mind’s attempt to reorganize itself within a world that no longer feels the same.

The Currents of Grief — Inner Multiplicity

A compassionate, parts-aware approach to grief’s internal complexity. Explores contradictory emotions, continuing bonds, relational ambivalence, archetypal inquiry, and the many voices grief awakens within us. Participants learn to work with grief’s emotional multiplicity without forcing coherence, resolution, or a single narrative.

The Hearth of Grief — Relational Ecology

Understanding grief as communal, ancestral, ecological, and relational rather than purely individual. Explores ritual, collective mourning, ancestral frameworks, relational systems, land-based grief practices, and the more-than-human world. Participants learn to tend grief not only within the self, but within the wider web of community, lineage, memory, and place. 

 

THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR:

  • grief practitioners and educators
  • coaches and facilitators
  • chaplains and spiritual care providers
  • yoga and somatic practitioners
  • therapists seeking non-pathologizing grief frameworks
  • retreat leaders and community space holders
  • hospice volunteers and end-of-life workers
  • individuals called to deeper grief literacy and accompaniment work

        LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Participants leave with:

  • foundational understanding of Living Grief Theory
  • practical tools for embodied grief accompaniment
  • trauma-aware and culturally responsive frameworks
  • somatic and relational facilitation skills
  • experiential understanding of the Five Currents
  • practices for group, individual, and community grief support
  • an expanded capacity to remain present with unresolved sorrow without collapsing into fixing, bypassing, or diagnosis

                 PROGRAM

DAY 1 — THE FIELD OF GRIEF: SPACIOUS PRESENCE
When the Sacred Feels Absent

We enter the shared field of grief, establishing safety, consent, grounded presence, and the capacity to remain with grief without collapsing into it, fixing it, or bypassing it.

THEME

Cultivating witnessing presence within grief.

TOPICS

Living Grief Theory™: grief as a living field rather than a problem to resolve.

Nondual and contemplative approaches to grief across wisdom traditions.

The grief–trauma distinction and the cultural costs of pathologizing sorrow.

Humanizing grief: myths, models, and inherited assumptions around mourning.

Mapping the many forms of grief—acute, ambiguous, disenfranchised, cumulative, collective, ancestral, and ecological.

The undercurrent of impermanence beneath all grief.

PRACTICES

Guided “Rest in the Field” meditation.

Cross-cultural grief story circle.

Journaling, silence, image-making, or movement practices.

DAY 2 — THE GROUND OF GRIEF: SOMATIC LITERACY
When the Body Carries What Words Cannot

We enter the body as the primary place grief is first known, expressed, and metabolized.

THEME

Attuning to the body’s language in grief.

TOPICS

Somatic phenomenology and embodied grief.

Nervous system awareness and regulation in grief accompaniment.

Felt Sense Dynamics™ for somatic tracking and grief embodiment.

Bodiedism™ and cultural disconnection from embodied wisdom.

Trauma-aware pacing, sensory safety, and relational attunement.

Working with shutdown, activation, numbness, contraction, and overwhelm.

PRACTICES

Partner body-mapping exercises.

Breath, grounding, and movement rituals.

Guided somatic witnessing practices.

Adaptations for different bodies, abilities, and neurotypes.

DAY 3 — THE CURRENTS OF GRIEF: INNER MULTIPLICITY
When the Heart Holds Contradiction

We explore grief’s emotional and relational complexity, honoring the many voices, attachments, tensions, and unfinished conversations loss awakens within us.

THEME

Welcoming grief’s inner multiplicity with compassion and curiosity.

TOPICS

Mapping grief selves and inner constellations.

Continuing bonds and the love that has nowhere left to go.

Contradictory emotions in grief: relief, guilt, anger, tenderness, numbness, longing.

Narrative flexibility without forced coherence or premature resolution.

Archetypal and symbolic dimensions of grief.

Relational ambivalence and unfinished emotional bonds.

PRACTICES

Inner Council Sanctum™ processes and role-play.

Small-group relational dialogue practices.

Creative writing and symbolic reflection.

Compassion-based practices for self-attack and fragmentation.

DAY 4 — THE HORIZON OF GRIEF: MEANING, MEMORY & MIND
When the World No Longer Makes Sense

We explore how grief reshapes worldview, identity, memory, meaning, and the mind’s orientation toward reality itself.

THEME

Understanding grief’s cognitive, existential, and cultural dimensions.

TOPICS

Predictive disruption and cognitive disorientation in grief.

Shattered assumptions and identity reorganization.

Cultural grief timelines and inherited beliefs about mourning.

Meaning-making without forced positivity or closure narratives.

Memory, altered time perception, and existential questioning.

Philosophical and contemplative encounters with impermanence.

PRACTICES

Personal grief narrative mapping.

Existential reflection and contemplative inquiry.

Journaling and worldview reconstruction exercises.

Reframing inherited grief narratives and assumptions.

DAY 5 — THE HEARTH OF GRIEF: RELATIONAL ECOLOGY
When We Return to the Human Circle

We widen the frame to include the relational, communal, ancestral, and ecological webs that hold grief and mourning.

THEME

Tending grief within the wider web of relationship and community.

TOPICS

Grief as relational, communal, ancestral, and ecological experience.

Collective mourning practices across cultures.

Ritual, remembrance, and communal grief tending.

Creating inclusive and non-pathologizing grief spaces.

Cultural humility, ethics, and scope of practice.

Bringing Living Grief™ into individual, group, retreat, and community settings.

PRACTICES

Constellation mapping of personal and collective grief.

Group altar-building and shared mourning ritual.

Community grief practices and relational witnessing.

Final integration circle and closing ceremony.

DELIVERY FORMAT

Format: Hybrid 60-hour certification program 

 

40 in-person training hours

Delivered across five consecutive retreat days (~8 hours/day)

20 online learning and integration hours

Completed before and after the immersion through guided coursework, reflection, discussion, and applied practice

  • Locations: Offered in retreat settings in California, Southeast Asia, and other select international retreat locations.

    Online Component Includes:

    • Foundational video lectures and readings
    • Guided reflection and journaling practices
    • Opening intake and orientation process
    • Peer dialogue and discussion
    • Post-retreat integration assignments
    • Applied grief accompaniment exercises
    • Final reflection project or case-study application

    In-Person Methodology:
    Experiential and relational learning through:

    • Teaching lectures and guided discussions
    • Somatic and contemplative practices
    • Small-group process work
    • Ritual and communal grief practices
    • Creative integration and reflective exercises
    • Relational witnessing and facilitation practice

    Additional Notes:
    Optional morning grounding, meditation, or embodiment practices may be offered and are not counted toward certification hours.

             PROGRAM DEVELOPER

Dr. Naomi Sanderovsky
Ph.D. in Philosophy & Religion

Professor of Death & Dying • Certified Grief Educator • Trauma-Informed Coach
Nondual Integration Specialist • Somatic Facilitator

Founder of Luma Via Retreats & Certification Programs
20+ years in grief education, intercultural studies, contemplative practice, and embodied healing work

ACCOMMODATION

Shared Accommodation

Participants may choose from thoughtfully designed shared lodging options immersed in the natural landscape.

Includes:

Shared bunk-style room (2 participants)

Private TreeDome or shared tiny home with private sleeping quarters

All plant-based meals and refreshments

Full 60-hour Living Grief™ Practitioner Certification program

Training materials and experiential practices

Certificate of completion

Private Accommodation

Designed for participants seeking additional privacy, solitude, and personal retreat space during the immersion.

Includes:

Private indoor room

All plant-based meals and refreshments

Full 60-hour Living Grief™ Practitioner Certification program

Training materials and experiential practices

Certificate of completion